Turkey Wise People: Government should take steps urgently

ANF – Ankara 23.08.2013 – Speaking to ANF about the ongoing resolution process aimed at a peaceful solution to the Kurdish question, actress Lale Mansur and academic Mithat Sancar who are part of the Wise People Commission called on the ruling AK Party government to take urgent steps in order to avoid a deadlock in the process.

Lale Mansur, deputy chairperson of the Wise People Delegation for Mediterranean Region, remarked that “advanced democracy” and “transparency” were among the prominent public demands highlighted in the reports of the delegation. Mansur said the government should take steps in consideration of these demands such as the release of ill prisoners in Turkish jails.

“A more advanced democracy is a need for all of us. I hope the government still conserves the determination it displayed at the beginning of this process”, Mansur said.

Mithat Sancar, deputy chairperson of the Wise People Delegation for Marmara Region, called attention to the importance of the part that political actors and the society should act for the achievement of democratization in the country.

Reminding of the statements of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who had promised a democracy package to be prepared on the basis of the reports by Wise People delegations, Sancar pointed out that the government has however taken no steps since the reports were conveyed to the PM two months ago. “The government has also failed to make a statement about the schedule of the steps it is supposed to take in this process”, he added and remarked that the ending of Turkish parliament’s year was not a realistic obstacle to the advancement of the resolution process.

Calling attention to Kurdish side’s recently increasing concerns over the government’s  probable delaying tactics, Sancar said that the government should announce its plans and projects for the resolution process to the public to relieve these concerns. Sancar said that it was not a must for both sides to have confidence in each other in the current process, noting that the primary concern was the practice of the necessary steps.Sancar warned that the peace process will be facing lack of confidence if the government doesn’t take the steps it is supposed to practice in order to make a headway. Milliyet daily has recently ended its work with academic Sancar after he published his interviews with the leading figures of the Kurdish movement including KCK (Kurdish Communities Union) Executive Council Co-Chair Cemil Bayık and PYD (Democratic Union Party) leader Saleh Muslim.